Game apparatus simulating an invasion



Nov. 4, 1958 R. V. HOWARD 2,859,037

' GAME APPARATUS SIMULATING AN INVASION Filed Aug. 16, 1956 IN V EN TOR.Roesm' V. Ham RD United States Patent Ofiice 2,859,037 Patented Nov. 4,1958 GAME APPARATUS SIMULATING AN INVASION Robert V. Howard, Denver,Colo. Application August 16, 1956, Serial No. 604,416

Claims. (Cl. 2731) This invention relates to war games and the like, andparticularly to what I choose to term an invasion game.

The main object of my invention is to provide a game for several playersin which war maneuvers on and in water are performed on a miniaturescale, but of an educational and entertaining character.

An ancillary object of my invention is to provide a war game of the typeintimated with a special water trough or open tank having a water coursefor several small ship elements to be sponsored by the players of thegame.

Another object of the invention is to have such a water trough or tankwhich is provided with a bottom drainage plug and a plurality of problemhandicaps or obstacles, tending to develop skill in sending off theindividual ship elements to traverse the water course.

A further object of this invention is to provide the tank or trough witha launching end for the ship elements and an enemy position forming agoal toward which the ship elements are set to travel.

It is also an object of the invention to have such an invasion gamewherein players may be pitted against each other as invaders by ship anddefenders on land, with appropriate defense means disposed in effectivedefe'nse position at the goal end of the water trough or-tank.

A practical object forming an important feature of my invention is tohave each ship element equipped to be self propelled and capable ofsteering a course selected by the player involved, and also equipped fordefense against handicaps and obstacles of certain types.

An object with a view to economy is also to have an invasion game of thecharacter indicated which is simple to make and easy to play with a lowcost in order to encourage wide distribution of the game on the market.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will appear in greaterdetail as the specification proceeds.

In order to facilitate ready comprehension of this invention for aproper appreciation of the salient features thereof, the invention isillustrated on the accompanying drawing forming part hereof, and inwhich:

Figure l is a longitudinal section of a ship element of the invasiongame involving my invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of a complete assembly of water tankequipment and ship elements, etc., embodying my invention in a practicalpreferred form;

Figure 3 is a transverse section of the water tank or trough as taken online 3-3 in Figure 2;

Figure 4 is a side elevation of one of the mines forming handicaps orproblem obstacles in the game; and

Figure 5 is a fragmentary vertical section of the spring actuated gunand bunker device showing the plunger in retracted position to project apellet.

In these views, the same reference numerals indicate the same or likeparts and features.

In educational games and games of skill and entertainment, it is, ofcourse desirable to have features included that simulate actualconditions and situations in practical life and experience. This iscertainly true of games 2 that simulate war maneuvers and the like, andwhen skill in handling ships and guns and quick observations are allinvolved, the eye, the hand and the mind are all improved in thedirection of quick perception and instant response to recognizedsituations.

With these thoughts in mind, obviously a problem existed in the field ofeducational and entertainment games, and it occurred to me that a gamecould he invented that would challenge the mind and improve and educateit while entertaining several players simultaneously. As a result ofsuch consideration, I have succeeded in producing a war game' orinvasion game along the lines already indicated, which will now bedescribed in detail in the following, due reference being had to thedrawing previously referred to.

Hence, in the practice of my invention, a pan, tank or trough generallyindicated at 5 is preferably made of metal or plastic, has a flat bottom6 in which is fitted a drain plug 7 having a finger piece or loop 8 bywhich to remove it at will to drain off even small amounts of water toobtain a definite water level 9 between the walls 10, 10 when filledwith water 11. Preferably, the bottom edges 12, 12 and wall corners 13,13, 14, 14 are all rounded, and the whole cast in one operation. At oneend 15, the pan is formed into a group of launching docks 16, 16 and anadjacent simulated beach at end 15, while the opposite end 18, formingthe goal of the invasion operation is provided with a group of simulatedguns and bunkers 19, 19 occupying the greater part of the goal end, butalso provided with a spring actuated operable gun and bunker device 20at one corner capable of sweeping the entire area of the water surfacewithin the tank with lead or other heavy pellets.

At the sides 10, 10 are formed inclined deflectors 21, 21 tending todirect any moving object on the water to veer inwardly toward thecentral area of the water from either side of the pan. In the generalgoal area indicated at 22 are placed a group of simulated mines 23, 23actually formed individually of inflated rubber balloons having theirlower inflating ends closedby cord or wire 24 tightly entwined aboutthese ends 25 to maintain a predetermined amount of air in each balloon,while the lower ends of the cords or wires involved are ballasted withsmall lead weights 26 suflicient to sink to the bottom and allow eachballoon to extend upward as far as its cord or wire will permit it togo. These balloons are intended to be below the water surface but atdifferent levels so as to form hazards or handicaps to the objectsfloating on the water when traveling toward the goal end of the pan.

At the docks 16 are initially located a group of, say seven ships, eachship 27, as best seen in Figure'l having a hollow hull 28 provided witha superstructure 29 completely closing the top of the boat but having acharging opening 30 provided with a tightly fitting top plug 31,allowing the ship to be filled with carbonated water or fluid and theplug then inserted to retain the gas pressure generated when the'ship ispicked up and shaken. At the rear 32 of the ship is pierced a smallescape hole 33 for the gas within the hull serving to drive the shiptoward the far end 18 when desired. Each ship may have a number appliedthereon to figure in the total credits for the player involved, and thefront end 34 is equipped with a balloon piercing pin 35 at a suitablelevel to be capable of striking any one of balloons or mines 23 ifdriven directly at them. At the rear, again a rudder 36 is swivelmounted and provided with a tiller 37 accessible from above.

The arrangement is such that when several players are divided into twocamps, two may first be opposed, one

launched by the other player from docks 16, by shaking each ship andthen setting it down and initially directing it toward the enemy shoreor end 18. Of course, prior to such launching, each ship is filled, butnot quite full with carbonated water or beverage, so that when the shipis shaken, the gas generated will be limited to the escape hole or vent33 for escaping from the ship. The latter Will thus be driven along thewater and may strike one or the other of the inclined side deflectors21, but

when once launched, the ship may not be touched or redirected by theplayer sponsoring it. Then again, the ships started on their way willencounter one or the other of the mines or balloons 23 if unlucky andwill pierce the same by the front pin 35, causing the balloon to burstand register loss of the ship from the players credit. On the otherhand, a lead pellet from enemy gun 20 may strike a ship and then it islisted as sunk and thus lost. Only that ship that reaches the end 13without exploding a balloon or being directly hit by a pellet from gun20 is considered a successful invasion ship and counted in a winningscore according to the number that may be applied thereon, if desired.The game can, of course be played without having such numbers applied tothe ships, and the number of ships actual- I ly arriving safe at theinvasion end 18.

In order to introduce a more emphatic element of chance into the game,the inside at least of the pan, trough or tank is preferably given adark color, or the pan itself may be made of plastic of dark color, andthe balloons or simulated mines are also given the same or approximatelythe same dark color, so that when players look down into the water, themines will be most difficult and virtually impossible to descry in thewater. Thus, it will be very difiicult to initially direct a ship sothat it will surely miss all of the mines, for they will be virtuallyinvisible.

A suitable projector is shown in Figure to include a tubular body 38open at its front end and closed at its rear end with an opening in itsrear wall through which a plunger rod 39 may reciprocate. The plungerrod has a disk 40 at its front end with a compression spring 41 betweenthe rear wall of the body and the disk for urging the plunger rodforwardly, a handle 42 mounted on the rear end of the plunger providesmeans to operate or withdraw the plunger against the end of thecompression of the spring 41 and when the plunger 39 is released thespring forces the disk forwardly and forces a pellet 43 out of theprojector.

Manifestly, variations may be resorted to, and parts and features may bemodified or used without others within the scope of the appended claims.

Having now fully described my invention, I claim:

1. An invasion game of the character described, including thecombination of a pan or trough having a continuous bounding wall andcapable of holding a quantity of water of predetermined depth, meansforming a launching area at one end of the pan and means forming aninvasion area at the other end, and at least one ship adapted to floatupon the water and travel from the launching area toward the invasionarea thereon, said ship having a hollow hull with a closed top formedwith a charging opening for a carbonated fluid and a rear dischargeopening for discharging fluid and gases rearwardly to drive the shipthrough the water, the ship having a closure for the charging opening,said launching area including a plurality of individual docks disposedin a series and having sides forming the docks into adjacent shippockets, a defense weapon in the invasion area capable of propellingpellet against invasion ships, each ship having a piercing pin at itsforward end, a plurality of weighted small balloons simulating mines andfloating in the water in the pan a distance above the bottom and belowthe surface of the water in effective position to be punctured by thepiercing points of the ships.

2. The invention according to claim 1 in which short lines are fixed tothe balloons, weights are fixed on the lines in such a position as tomaintain the balloon below the surface at a selected location, theballoons being of a color indistinguishable from the color of theinterior of the pan and the water whereby the players cannot determinethe location of such balloons, said pan being provided with deflectorsat its sides to direct ships toward the center.

3. An invasion game of the character described, including thecombination of a pan or trough having a continuous bounding wall andcapable of holding a quantity of water of predetermined depth, meansforming a launching area at one end of the pan and means forming aninvasion area at the other end, and at least one ship adapted to floatupon the water and travel from the launching area toward the invasionarea thereon, said ship having a hollow hull, means to propel the shipin a forward direction, a balloon piercing point mounted on the forwardend of said ship, a plurality of weighted small balloons simulatingmines floating in the water in the pan a distance above the bottom ofthe pan and below the surface of the water in effective position to bepunctured by the piercing point on the ship.

4. The invention according to claim 3 in which the balloons aremaintained in selected position by anchors.

5. The invention according to claim 3 in which a pellet projectingdevice is mounted on the invasion area.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,299,551 McGahey Oct. 20, 1942 2,355,118 Storey Aug. 8, 1944 2,551,055Scharkopf May 1, 1951 2,668,390 Fredericks Feb. 9, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS131,912 Great Britain Oct. 21, 1920

